Former RBC banker pleads guilty to insider trading

A former investment banking associate at Royal Bank of Canada in Sydney has pleaded guilty to insider trading.

Mr John Kay Jin Khoo, now of Bulimba in Queensland, pleaded guilty to four charges of communicating inside information to two people knowing they were likely to trade on it.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission says Mr Khoo gained the information while working at RBC on the proposed acquisition of Macarthur Coal by Peabody Energy and ArcelorMittal, as well as from proposed takeovers of Caledon Resources by Guangdong Rising Assets Management Co and Mantra Resources by JSC Atomredmetzoloto between 2010 and 2011.

Mr Jia Yao Mathew Tan from the Sydney suburb of Waterloo pleaded guilty to one count of insider trading, related to the Macarthur Coal takeover.

ASIC says Mr Tan, a former day trader and director of Active Capital Management, made approximately $40,000 by acquiring 10,000 contracts for difference in Macarthur Coal as a result of information provided by Mr Khoo.

The two men have been committed for sentencing in the Sydney District Court on January 18.

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